Vibro hammer positioner

ABSTRACT

A positioner is disclosed herein for use on a vibrating hammer or vibro hammer. The vibro hammer is normally supported by a hoist line extending from a conventional crane. The positioner is secured to one end of the hammer and comprises a vertically disposed hydraulic cylinder means enclosed in a vertically disposed protective housing. The hydraulic cylinder has a first pulley secured to its upper base end and second and third pulleys secured to its rod end. A first cable member is fixedly secured at one end thereof to the upper end protective housing and extends around the second pulley, thence around the first pulley, thence around the third pulley and thence outwardly from the housing. The first cable member is connected at its other end to the other end of the hammer. The first cable member is connected between its ends, thereby defining first and second cable portions, to a standard Rud-O-Matic (TM) tagline extending from the crane. The hammer may be selectively rotated about the axis defined by the hoist line by activating the hydraulic cylinder which effectively increases or decreases the length of the first cable portion of the first cable member.

United States Patent 1191 Giroux 1451 Feb. 5, 1974 VIBRO HAMMER POSITIONER [76] Inventor: Davis W. Giroux, No. 3 Lakewood,

Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501 [22] Filed: June 7, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 260,418

3,067,657 12/1962 Wiekhorst l73/43X Primary Examiner-Ernest R. Purser Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Zarley, McKee & Thomte [57] ABSTRACT A positioner is disclosed herein for use on a vibrating hammer or vibro hammer. The vibro hammer is normally supported by a hoist line extending from a conventional crane. The positioner is secured to one end of the hammer and comprises a vertically disposed hydraulic cylinder means enclosed in a vertically disposed protective housing. The hydraulic cylinder has a first pulley secured to its upper base end and second and third pulleys secured to its rod end. A first cable member is fixedly secured at one end thereof to the upper end protective housing and extends around the second pulley, thence around the first pulley, thence around the third pulley and thence outwardly from the housing. The first cable member is connected at its other end to the other end of the hammer. The first cable member is connected between its ends, thereby defining first and secondcable portions, to a standard Rud-O-Matic (TM) tagline extending from the crane. The hammer may be selectively rotated about the axis defined by the hoist line by activating the hydraulic cylinder which effectively increases or decreases the length of the first cable portion of the first cable memher.

6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures VIBRO HAMMER POSITIONER Vibrating hammers or vibro hammers are used to drive piling and are also used to extract the piling from the ground. The hammer is normally supported by a hoist line extending from a conventional crane. The hammer is rotatable about the axis defined by the hoist cable and such rotation makes it difficult to position the hammer since the hammer must be properly aligned with the piling due to the jaw condiguration of the hammer. In other words, the jaws of the hammer can only clamp onto the sheet piling when the hammer is in a particular relationship with respect to the piling.

Heretofore, the customary method of selectively rotating the hammer to the proper position was to attach cable or lines to opposite ends of the hammer and to manually pull or slack off the lines to cause the desired rotation. Such a method not only requires the services of two men but it is difficult, if not impossible, in some situations to station the cable men in the proper position to work the cables. This is especially true when the piling is being pulled from a cofferdam in a river or the like.

It is also a desirable feature to be able to selectively rotate the hammer when the hammer is being used to extract the piling and when a piling clamp is being used in combination with the hammer. It has been found to be especially important to be able to rotatably position the hammer when the hammer is being used in combination with a piling clamp means such as that described in my co-pending application entitled A Piling Clamp Ser. No. 260,419 filed on the same date as this application.

Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a vibrating hammer positioner.

A further object of this invention is to provide a vibrating hammer positioner which permits the vibrating hammer to be conveniently positioned with respect to a piling member.

A further object of this invention is to provide a positioner for use on a vibrating hammer comprising a length adjustable cable portion which is connected to a Rud-O-matic (TM) tagline extending from the crane.

A further object of this invention is to provide a positioner on a vibrating hammer which permits the hammer to be rotated in either clockwise or counterclockwise directions with respect to the axis defined by the crane hoist cable.

A further object of this invention is to provide a positioner for a vibrating hammer which is protected from damage during the use thereof.

A further object of this invention is to provide a positioner for a vibrating hammer which is economical of manufacture, durable in use and refined in appearance.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

This invention consists in the construction, arrangements, and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, specifically pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating the positioner being used on a vibrating hammer which is supported by the hoist line of a crane:

FIG. 2 is a front view of the positioner mounted on a vibrating hammer with portions thereof cut away to more fully illustrate the invention:

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the cable reeving arrangement in the positioner:

FIG. 4 is a top view of the positioner mounted on a vibrating hammer:

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 except that the positioner has been activated to rotate the hammer from the position of FIG. 4:

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 except that the positioner has rotated the hammer from the position of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 except that the hammer has been rotated in a counterclockwise direction with respect to that shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6.

The numeral 10 generally refers to the positioner of this invention while the numeral 12 refers to a conventional vibrating hammer or vibro hammer which is adapted to drive piling or extract piling by imparting vibratory motion thereto. The hammer 12 has a jaw means 14 which is adapted to clamp onto a piling member 16 as illustrated in FIG. 2. The jaw means 14 must be properly positioned with respect to the piling member 16 to enable the upper end of the piling member 16 to be received therein. The hammer 12 is supported by a hoist line 18 extending from the upper end of a conventional crane 20. A standard Rud-O-Matic (TM) tagline 22 is provided on the crane and extends toward the hammer 12 as illustrated in FIG. 1. The

Rud-O-Matic tagline is manufactured by McCaffrey- Ruddock Tagline Corporation. Without the positioner of this invention, the hammer 12 tends to rotate about the axis defined by the hoist cable 18. For purposes of description, hammer 12 will be described as having opposite ends 23 and 24, upper end 26 and lower end 28.

Positioner 10 comprises a vertically disposed protective housing 30 which is secured to end 22 of hammer 12 as illustrated in FIG. 2. A hydraulic cylinder 32 is mounted in the interior of housing 30 and is secured thereto by means of trunnions 34 and 36 which prevent movement of the body portion of the hydraulic cylinder. A pulley 38 is provided on the upper base end of the cylinder 32 and a pair of pulleys 40 and 42 are secured to the lower end of the rod 44 extending from the body of the cylinder.

A cable 46 is secured at one end to the upper interior end of housing 30 by any convenient means such as clamp 48 or the like. Cable 46 extends downwardly from the clamp 48 and extends around the pulley 40,

thence upwardly, thence around pulley 38, thence downwardly, thence around pulley 42 and then upwardly. Cable 46 extends outwardly through an opening 50 provided in the housing 30 and passes over a pulley 52 which is pivotally secured to the housing 30. The other end of cable 46 is secured to the other end 24 of hammer 12. The Rud-O-Matic tagline 22 is secured to cable 46 at 51 thereby defining cable portions 53 and 54.

It has been found that a convenient length for the cable portion 54 is six feet. The cable portion 54 is of a fixed length while the hydraulic cylinder 32 permits the effective length of the cable portion 53 to be shortened or lengthened with respect to the cable portion 54 and the tagline 22 so that the hammer 12 may be selec- 3 tively rotated about the axis defined by the hoist line 18.

In operation, the hammer 12 would usually be in the initial position illustrated in FIG. 4 wherein the exposed length of cable portion 53 is equal to the length of cable portion 54. It should be noted that the Rud-O- Matic tagline applies constant tension on the cable portion 53 and 54 to prevent the hammer 12 from swinging outwardly away from the crane 20. If it is desired to rotate the hammer 12 in a clockwise direction from that viewed in FIG. 4, the crane operator operates the hydraulic cylinder 32 (the hydraulic cylinder 32 being operatively connected by suitable hydraulic hoses to a conventional hydraulic system) so as to retract the rod 44 into the body of the hydraulic cylinder 32 thereby permitting more or additional cable 46 to play outwardly from the positioner 10. Thus, in FIG. 5, the exposed or effective length of cable portion 53 is now approximately 13 feet 4 inches while the length of cable portion 54 has remained at its fixed length of 6 feet. Further retraction of the rod 44 into the cylinder 32 causes the cable 46 to be further played outwardly from the positioner so that the exposed or effective length of the cable portion 53 is now 14 feet 6 inches as viewed in FIG. 6.

If it is desired to rotate the hammer 12 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 4-7, the crane operator actuates the hydraulic cylinder 32 to cause the rod44 to be extended from the body of the cylinder 32 thereby decreasing the exposed or effective length of the cable portion 53. FIG. 7 illustrates the hammer 12 after it has been rotated in a counterclockwise direction from that viewed in FIGS. 4-6 with the exposed or effective length of the cable portion 53 being 4 feet with cable portion 54 remaining at 6 feet.

Thus, it can be seen that an extremely efficient and effective positioning means has been provided for use on a piling driving or extracting mechanism which is supported by a hoist line of a crane. The hydraulic cylinder 32 permits the hammer 12 to be rotated about the axis defined by the hoist line 18 so that the hammer 12 can be properly oriented with respect to the piling 16. The positioning means and its relationship with the cable portion 54 and Rud-OMatic tagline 22 permits the hammer 12 to be precisely positioned as desired. The cylinder 32 is protected by the casing 30 so as to prevent damage thereto during the use thereof.

I claim: 1. In combination,

a crane means having a hoist line and a tagline, a piling driving means supported by said hoist line;

a positioning means mounted on said driving means operatively connected to said tagline for selectively rotating said driving means with respect to said crane means,

said driving means comprising a vibrating hammer means,

said positioning means comprising a length adjustable cable means operatively secured to said tagline whereby selective adjustment of the length of said cable means causes said hammer means to be rotated about the axis defined by said hoist line,

said hammer means having opposite ends, said positioning means being at one end of said hammer means-and comprising a hydraulic cylinder means having an extendible rod, a first pulley on the base end of said cylinder means, second and third pulleys secured to the rod end of said cylinder means, a first cable member operatively fixedly secured at one end to said positioningmeans and extending around said second pulley, thence around said first pulley, thence around said third pulley, thence outwardly from said positioning means, said first cable member being secured at its other end to the other end of said hammer means, said first cable member being secured to said tagline to define first and second cable portions.

2. In combination,

a crane means having a substantially vertically disposed hoist line extending downwardly therefrom, said crane means having a tagline extending therefrom towards said hoist line,

a piling driving means supported by said hoist line,

a positioning means mounted on said driving means operatively connected to said tagline for selectively rotating said driving means about the vertical axis defined by said hoist line.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said driving means comprises a vibrating hammer means.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said positioning means comprises a length adjustable cable means operatively secured to said tagline whereby selective adjustment of the length of said cable means causes said hammer means to be rotated about the axis defined by said hoist line.

5. The combination of claim 2 wherein said tagline is a Rud-O-Matic tagline.

6. The combination of claim 2 wherein said tagline comprises means for applying tension to said positioning means. 

1. In combination, a crane means having a hoist line and a tagline, a piling driving means supported by said hoist line, a positioning means mounted on said driving means operatively connected to said tagline for selectively rotating said driving means with respect to said crane means, said driving means comprising a vibrating hammer means, said positioning means comprising a length adjustable cable means operatively secured to said tagline whereby selective adjustment of the length of said cable means causes said hammer means to be rotated about the axis defined by said hoist line, said hammer means having opposite ends, said positioning means being at one end of said hammer means and comprising a hydraulic cylinder means having an extendible rod, a first pulley on the base end of said cylinder means, second and third pulleys secured to the rod end of said cylinder means, a first cable member operatively fixedly secured at one end to said positioning means and extending around said second pulley, thence around said first pulley, thence around said third pulley, thence outwardly from said positioning means, said first cable member being secured at its other end to the other end of said hammer means, said first cable member being secured to said tagline to define first and second cable portions.
 2. In combination, a crane means having A substantially vertically disposed hoist line extending downwardly therefrom, said crane means having a tagline extending therefrom towards said hoist line, a piling driving means supported by said hoist line, a positioning means mounted on said driving means operatively connected to said tagline for selectively rotating said driving means about the vertical axis defined by said hoist line.
 3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said driving means comprises a vibrating hammer means.
 4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said positioning means comprises a length adjustable cable means operatively secured to said tagline whereby selective adjustment of the length of said cable means causes said hammer means to be rotated about the axis defined by said hoist line.
 5. The combination of claim 2 wherein said tagline is a Rud-O-Matic tagline.
 6. The combination of claim 2 wherein said tagline comprises means for applying tension to said positioning means. 